CEE Bonds

Belarus this week gave investors a chance to demonstrate the ESG credentials they are often so keen to trumpet. Few took it. Although the country’s sovereign bonds sold off in the wake of the controversial arrest of a journalist on Sunday, investors gave a number of reasons why issues such as human rights violations were no deterrent to buying an issuer’s bonds. But there are signs those excuses may not hold up for ever, writes Mariam Meskin.

Following the international outcry over the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane carrying a Belarusian dissident, some emerging markets investors are said to have had sudden doubts about the ESG characteristics of Belarusian sovereign bonds. What took them so long?

The EU has agreed to hit Belarus with sanctions and restrictions in the aftermath of the grounding of a Ryanair flight and the arrest of one of its passengers, journalist and activist Roman Protasevich. Market participants say that market access for the sovereign is in doubt.

Polish synthetic rubber group Synthos announced a €500m high yield bond on Tuesday, following its recent agreement to buy two specialist rubber businesses from Trinseo for $449m. It will fund the acquisition through cash but it launched the new bond to pay down its existing term loan and put in place a more flexible capital structure, including an increased €500m revolving credit facility.

Yapi Kredi Bank and Garanti Bank this week became the latest Turkish banks to refinance syndicated loans, in the process raising ESG-linked facilities. The trend towards ESG-linked financing is not driven by the desire to cut costs, which for many has been only symbolic, but by a desire to help boost borrowers’ credentials and to make life easier for international lenders.

A draft amendment to the Hungarian covered bond regime, that brings it into line with the European Union's Covered Bond Directive, is likely to be a positive for the product's credit and should improve prospects for issuance in euros.

Investors have turned against Belarus after an opposition blogger and journalist was arrested by authorities on Sunday in extraordinary circumstances, with the country's dollar bonds dropping sharply on Monday morning.

The city of Moscow is set to issue green bonds within the week, following the sovereign’s return to the Eurobond market on Thursday. The issuer is seeking foreign investor interest in its rouble-denominated green debut.

The Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer PKN Orlen launched its debut green bond on Thursday. The trade is one of the very first of its kind from an oil company.

Russia launched its first international bond of the year on Thursday, which some have labelled as a show of strength by the sanction-hit country. Market participants are now debating which investors will end up buying the trade.

Arçelik, the Turkish household appliance manufacturer that owns Beko and Grundig, is set to make its mark in the green bond market. The deal, some say, will be a test of investor appetite for Turkish corporate paper, which so far has been strong, despite the heightened volatility affecting the country in the first four months of the year.

Russia has mandated an exclusively Russian consortium of banks to arrange a euro bond issue. Market participants say the extra cash is not necessary but is Russia’s way of demonstrating its access to markets a month after its sovereign debt was slapped with further US sanctions.